US-led coalition says its strikes killed 800 civilians in Iraq, Syria

The estimate in the monthly report was far lower than the figure provided by monitoring groups, which put the civilian deaths at 5,961.

Smoke billows out of a building following a coalition air strike in Raqqa, Syria on September 5, 2017;
AFP

Smoke billows out of a building following a coalition air strike in Raqqa, Syria on September 5, 2017;

At least 800 civilians have been killed in strikes in Iraq and Syria by the US-led coalition fighting Daesh since the campaign began in 2014, according to a report released by the coalition on Thursday.

The estimate in the monthly report, which said coalition strikes had unintentionally killed at least 801 civilians between August 2014 and October 2017, was far lower than figures provided by monitoring groups.

The monitoring group Airwars says a total of at least 5,961 civilians have been killed by coalition air strikes.

"We continue to hold ourselves accountable for actions that may have caused unintentional injury or death to civilians," the coalition said in its report.

Since the start of the campaign against Daesh militants, the coalition has carried out more than 28,000 strikes and has received 1,790 reports of potential civilian casualties, the report said.

It was still assessing 695 reports of civilian casualties from strikes it carried out in Iraq and in Syria.

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